Tata Motors parent company, Tata Group, owns the Taj Mahal Hotel at the center of the deadly attacks in Mumbai ending this morning. News the same company producing the Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world, also owns one of the largest and nicest hotels in India shouldn't come as a surprise given the Tata Group… »11/30/08 12:01am 11/30/08 12:01am

Amateur spy shooters in the right place at the right time snagged these great photos of the
Tata Nano »10/27/08 11:00am 10/27/08 11:00am undergoing testing — revealing the interior for the first time since the Geneva show. The micro-sized $2,500 "people's car" being championed by Indian industrial giant Ratan Tata faces an uphill battle after its…

Recent developments have put into serious jeopardy Indian automaker Tata's attempt to build the world's cheapest production car, the
Tata Nano »10/04/08 6:20pm 10/04/08 6:20pm. the most serious roadblock to building the car since the Nano was first unveiled back in January. According to the wire service, Tata has now abandoned their attempt to…

Escalating
material costs »9/03/08 2:40pm 9/03/08 2:40pm aren't the only thing standing in the way of the $2,500 . Increasingly violent protests from farmers surrounding the rising Nano factory have forced Tata to put an indefinite hold on the progress. The farmers' beef comes from their assertion they were unfairly compensated for their land when…

The Indian Transport Ministry estimates that the number of fatalities from road accidents could climb 50% to 150,000 a year by 2015 due to the rapid growth of vehicle ownership in the country. The World Bank estimates that at current levels (100,000 per year), India’s mortality rate is 14 for every 10,000 vehicles —…
»8/28/08 4:40pm 8/28/08 4:40pm

The Economic Times of India is reporting Tata has teamed up with German engineering firm FEV (who's also developing the hybrid system on the Mahindra Scorpio) to bring an 800 cc, turbocharged, two-cylinder diesel to the engine bay of the Tata Nano. Already blessed with a $2500 price tag and rumored to have a … »7/24/08 1:00pm 7/24/08 1:00pm

Ratan Tata wowed the world when he revealed his company's Tata Nano, the miniscule two-cylinder, four-door runabout designed to go to market with an equally tiny $2,500 price tag. Now, due to pressures from rising commodity prices, Tata may be in jeopardy of missing that now famous 1-lakh goal. Steel prices have… »7/08/08 10:00am 7/08/08 10:00am

Okay, sooner or later Tata is going to have to stop making headlines, 'cause we're really, really trying to cut back on the innuendo. But today we get news that Tata is considering purchasing the brand GM may be trying to shed, Hummer. And even with our newfound restraint, we have to admit we had a mild aneurysm at… »6/06/08 4:20pm 6/06/08 4:20pm

Ever since the Tata Nano set the world ablaze with the promise of the $2,500 car, we've been anxious to see one actually driving around. Alas, courtesy of a couple of dudes with a camera we now have the video of the half-pint people mover actually moving people. And unlike those fancy American cars, there's no need… »6/05/08 6:00pm 6/05/08 6:00pm

Ratan Tata and his eponymous company sent the automotive world buzzing with news of their $2,500 car, the lilliputian Nano. At the time, we reported that Bajaj Auto, which is partnered with Renault-Nissan, was going to announce a $3,000 car. Turns out the companies have found a way to cut $500 off the price to create… »5/12/08 9:40am 5/12/08 9:40am

Apparently this has been out there for a while, but before we discussed the news that Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod, manufacturers of the Volga line of hulking vehicular tragicomic props, was looking for partners on the Indian subcontinent, we needed to find press releases with the right sort of Moose-Und-Sqvirrel feel. »4/07/08 10:00am 4/07/08 10:00am

The race to the bottom continues as Bengal Enamel's Tara International will be teaming with Chinese company Aucma to produce a sub-sub-1-lakh car called the Tara Tiny. Yes, the little-known company seeks to lakh-block the Tata Nano by building a range of electric powered two- and four-seat cars starting at a rock… »3/17/08 10:20am 3/17/08 10:20am

When Indian carmaker Tata made international headlines with their $2,500 Tata Nano other automakers took notice. One of those automakers is BMW, which already has a growing sales operation in India. Wanting to get a slice of the small car market, the company is considering bringing over the Mini. The projected cost?… »3/12/08 1:45pm 3/12/08 1:45pm

"Technology, the new life-force." That's what Tata Motors says. We had no idea. We kinda miss the old life-force — you know — life? Whatever. One thing this video played this morning at the Nano reveal can give you, is a feel for just how important the automaker from India sees themselves. But who can blame them, what… »3/04/08 12:30pm 3/04/08 12:30pm

Ratan Tata, the Henry Ford of Mumbai, just revealed his dreamwork here, the Tata Nano, to a European audience here at the Geneva Auto Show that may never get to drive one. The micromini — which, in person, appears to be two scooters sheathed inside an extra-large Maytag dryer — is for now just for emerging markets… »3/04/08 9:00am 3/04/08 9:00am

We heard about the Tata backed and French developed Air Car back in January and are intrigued by the brilliantly simple concept. It seems the Beeb has caught wind of it too and recently ran the coverage you see above. The numbers on it are pretty exciting for something running like an air compressor with its valves… »2/13/08 2:30pm 2/13/08 2:30pm

With all that land mass and all those people, Russia is expected to be the largest car market in Europe within a few years. And what do the proud people of Russia want? Cheap, honest transportation; a "people's car." Well that's exactly what Russia automaker AvtoVAZ wants to give them. Since most of these consumers… »2/11/08 9:45am 2/11/08 9:45am

Tata recently came out with its latest light truck offering for the South African Market, the Xenon. Compact pickups in South Africa are called bakkies, a term we think is the bees knees, and this one is Tata's second bakkie for that market. The Xenon rides on a double wishbone front suspension with a solid axle and… »1/25/08 1:15pm 1/25/08 1:15pm